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Sep 13, 2012
09/12
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it came out before the rioting and long before the killing in tripoli. it was apparently an attempt by embassy staff to head off -- excuse me in benghazi. it was apparently an attempt by embassy staff to head off what you see happening here, to diffuse the situation before it got ugly and there was an attack on the embassy in cairo, not to apologize after it did. you can agree or disagree with what the embassy did under pressure, whether their statement was appropriate. you could say it should have said nothing or defended the freedom of these filmmakers to make that inflammatory video. what you can't do is say that the embassy statement came after a particular event when in fact it came before that event. mitt romney's statement was made before all the facts were known. if you thought he might back track today, you would be wrong. in fact today he restated the charge. listen. >> i think it's a -- a terrible course for america to stand in apology for our values. that instead when our grounds are being attacked and being breached that the first response o
it came out before the rioting and long before the killing in tripoli. it was apparently an attempt by embassy staff to head off -- excuse me in benghazi. it was apparently an attempt by embassy staff to head off what you see happening here, to diffuse the situation before it got ugly and there was an attack on the embassy in cairo, not to apologize after it did. you can agree or disagree with what the embassy did under pressure, whether their statement was appropriate. you could say it should...
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Sep 27, 2012
09/12
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they've not been able to get -- gotten as far as tripoli, but not to benghazi. they made a request that the crime scene be secured. as we know from reporting, the state department -- we don't know whether that request was put to the libyans and whether that was denied. what happened to it. what we know for sure, the crime scene was never secured, and the senior law enforcement official i spoke to said if we get there now, it is not clear whether it will be of any use to us. and the third critical and astonishing point was, look, one of the things we have to do is question the individuals that the libyans have in custody to get to the bottom, to understand what they are learning and, in fact, they made that request through the state department, that was denied by libya, and so the fbi has to pass any questions they have through the state department to the libyan government that they have through the state department and then they put the questions and then you wait for that information to come back before you can follow up. not ideal way to do an investigation. i
they've not been able to get -- gotten as far as tripoli, but not to benghazi. they made a request that the crime scene be secured. as we know from reporting, the state department -- we don't know whether that request was put to the libyans and whether that was denied. what happened to it. what we know for sure, the crime scene was never secured, and the senior law enforcement official i spoke to said if we get there now, it is not clear whether it will be of any use to us. and the third...
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Sep 27, 2012
09/12
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what we found out today, while the fbi has finally made it to tripoli, they haven't been on the ground in bengazi. they deployed their personal to a lotication in the region. they have conducted interviews of personnel who were there at the time of the attack. they made a request that the crime scene be secured. as we know from reporting, the state department -- we don't know whether that request was put to the libyans and whether that was denied. official i spoke to said if we get there now it is not clear whether it will be of use to us. look, one of the things we have to do is question the individuals that the libyans have in custody to understand what they are learning and they made that request through the state department. so the fbi has to pass questions that they have through the state department and then they put the questions and then you wait for that information to come back before you can follow up. not ideal way to do an investigation. i want to play something for our viewers. >> and we are at the very early stati stages of the fbi investigation. the team reached libraya
what we found out today, while the fbi has finally made it to tripoli, they haven't been on the ground in bengazi. they deployed their personal to a lotication in the region. they have conducted interviews of personnel who were there at the time of the attack. they made a request that the crime scene be secured. as we know from reporting, the state department -- we don't know whether that request was put to the libyans and whether that was denied. official i spoke to said if we get there now it...
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Sep 21, 2012
09/12
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fran townsend told us ambassador stevens arrived for a meeting with her at a hotel in tripoli and had no security detail with him at all inside the hotel. but you're hearing a very different account from state department officials that you're talking to. what are you hearing? >> well, wolf, we're hearing a couple of things. first of all, the officials are saying that just because the detail of ambassador stevens in tripoli wasn't visible doesn't mean it wasn't there. but when we're talking about the consulate in tripoli -- in benghazi, excuse me, officials say that in the wake -- in the lead-up to this 9/11 attack, and arwa just mentioned these previous attacks, including the attack on the consulate, the state department made increased enhancements to improve security on the compound, more barriers, more cameras, additional armed guards. in addition, ambassador stevens had two armed guards in addition to three others and several militias on the compound, and what officials are saying is listen, we were adding improvements to this security based on those previous attacks which weren't
fran townsend told us ambassador stevens arrived for a meeting with her at a hotel in tripoli and had no security detail with him at all inside the hotel. but you're hearing a very different account from state department officials that you're talking to. what are you hearing? >> well, wolf, we're hearing a couple of things. first of all, the officials are saying that just because the detail of ambassador stevens in tripoli wasn't visible doesn't mean it wasn't there. but when we're...
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Sep 20, 2012
09/12
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. >> actually med with ambassador stephens in a hotel in tripoli and when he arrived at the hotel he had no security with him at all and that surprise ed her at the time. i have never seen an ambassador who doesn't have a larger entourage. what do you attribute this to? >> he lived in a hotel during the fighting. but also it is pretty clear that the security people should have given him more security in b bengazi. there is far more islamic influence in that part of libya than in tripoli. >> the people in the obama administration said this was an off shoot of the video. but the it was said today that the attractiack was a terrorist attack. how significant do you think that is? >> i think it is significant that the president's spokesperson would go on our networks and tell people thing that is are absolutely false and by the way, fly in the face of the facts. i think maybe the american people are owed an apology. but the most important thing that we have to understand is that this video is not the cause of it. islamists who use these videos use these toen flame people to attack america
. >> actually med with ambassador stephens in a hotel in tripoli and when he arrived at the hotel he had no security with him at all and that surprise ed her at the time. i have never seen an ambassador who doesn't have a larger entourage. what do you attribute this to? >> he lived in a hotel during the fighting. but also it is pretty clear that the security people should have given him more security in b bengazi. there is far more islamic influence in that part of libya than in...
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Sep 25, 2012
09/12
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if the host government is incapable, we did fly in additional marines to guard the embassy in tripoli. was there military u.s. personnel available to help secure it. obviously that didn't happen. it's one of those unanswered questions we don't know but what we do know is the consequences of failing to secure the crime scene absolutely will call into question the integrity of the information that's gathered there. >> bob, what does this say to you, that this site was not secured? >> anderson, i think the whole thing's just outrageous. i completely agree with fran. look, that consulate was overrun and we don't even begin to understand what was lost there. we've lost crypto, files, money, personal documents. we don't even know, this administration is not telling us. the fact that the diary was found in the consulate, and the fact that there wasn't -- i've heard that there's a quick reaction force tried to get to the consulate but was attacked at the airport, benghazi airport. this hasn't been confirmed, but what's happened in libya, we've lost complete control of this. every investigatio
if the host government is incapable, we did fly in additional marines to guard the embassy in tripoli. was there military u.s. personnel available to help secure it. obviously that didn't happen. it's one of those unanswered questions we don't know but what we do know is the consequences of failing to secure the crime scene absolutely will call into question the integrity of the information that's gathered there. >> bob, what does this say to you, that this site was not secured? >>...
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Sep 18, 2012
09/12
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he had no visible security presence when he met me in tripoli. . he walked in, he was greeted by other libyans who clearly recognized him at the hotel and came up to him very warmly and thanked him for u.s. assistance. but he had no visible security presence with him when he walked in. >> bob baer, does that surprise you? >> absolutely. there's no way that man should have been without security, without western security. there is no libyan security to provide it and he should've had it. there were so many attacks, so many threats hanging over libya. frankly, there's no excuse for it. >> people say, though, about him, he was a guy that liked to roll up his sleeves, out on the street and that's how he did effective work. >> you know, everybody wants -- he's good, he knows the middle east, he did the same thing at damascus, and that's what the state department should be doing. the problem is the middle east is changing so fast that that way of behaving -- not the way of carrying yourself out in public, you just no longer is safe. >> fran, to your point
he had no visible security presence when he met me in tripoli. . he walked in, he was greeted by other libyans who clearly recognized him at the hotel and came up to him very warmly and thanked him for u.s. assistance. but he had no visible security presence with him when he walked in. >> bob baer, does that surprise you? >> absolutely. there's no way that man should have been without security, without western security. there is no libyan security to provide it and he should've had...
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Sep 14, 2012
09/12
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and moved around between tripoli, benghazi, kabruk, four different power groups, have you brigade commanders that have their own autonomy in certain regions, shaikhs, tribal chiefs and the transnational council and ministries, and no one really controls everything. and i -- my very good people there, moved around with them. had to change our route several times, because of the salafis, they got word we were there, so we when to change. when our people go in? there targeting, how do you find them? you can't punish a population. and so it's very difficult to -- to find those that are responsible and take much action. we have to reinforce the consulate and embassy with marines, have a force off the coast to do emergency evacuation, if required, but the libyans basically asked us and we're -- we're the civilian private organization now, because we were setting up humanitarian assistant prospects. they asked us, america needs to be here. we want your business here. all wearing american flag pins on their clothes. they didn't want the chinese, they didn't want other nationalities, they wanted us,
and moved around between tripoli, benghazi, kabruk, four different power groups, have you brigade commanders that have their own autonomy in certain regions, shaikhs, tribal chiefs and the transnational council and ministries, and no one really controls everything. and i -- my very good people there, moved around with them. had to change our route several times, because of the salafis, they got word we were there, so we when to change. when our people go in? there targeting, how do you find...
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Sep 15, 2012
09/12
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in the early hours of the morning, a unit of security personnel arrived at the benghazi airport from tripoli, these were americans tasked with evacuating. we are being told those who were hiding out at the safe house. as the convoy was approaching the safe house, they came under yet another intense but very short lived attack and this is where many questions are being asked as to was somehow -- was there some sort of infiltration that took place? how did the attackers know to attack at the second location? when the individuals arrived at this apparent safe house, they are being told they found a round of 30 plus personnel that needed to be evacuated along with three of the four bodies, the body of the ambassador was of course later found at this hospital, but a lot of questions as we're trying to piece together how it is that this happened but also how is it going to be prevented in the future. >> arwa, one of the questions i have, it sounds like this was a fight or an attack that went on for some time. where were local libyan security forces, either government forces. we keep hearing about
in the early hours of the morning, a unit of security personnel arrived at the benghazi airport from tripoli, these were americans tasked with evacuating. we are being told those who were hiding out at the safe house. as the convoy was approaching the safe house, they came under yet another intense but very short lived attack and this is where many questions are being asked as to was somehow -- was there some sort of infiltration that took place? how did the attackers know to attack at the...
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Sep 29, 2012
09/12
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also to be nearby, but many of those still remain in that third country awaiting visas to get into tripoli. >> still waiting for visas? >> that's right. well, look, this is always -- i can tell you myself when i went, it's not easy to get a visa into libya. obviously, this is something that the libyan government can facilitate for the fbi, but you know, we saw yesterday the u.s. government drew down their personnel because of concern in the protests today so it may be that they've just been waiting for sort of a break in the security situation to get them in. >> tom fuentes, you have your own take on what's happening with the fbi contingent. >> right, anderson. during my five years running international operations at the bureau, i oversaw hundreds of these deployments, my staff and i, making the logistical arrangements, working on the visas, working with the host country on how many investigators would be allowed, how they would get there, what kind of equipment we could get in there. and we always had these type of challenges. what happened in this case, i talked to several senior executi
also to be nearby, but many of those still remain in that third country awaiting visas to get into tripoli. >> still waiting for visas? >> that's right. well, look, this is always -- i can tell you myself when i went, it's not easy to get a visa into libya. obviously, this is something that the libyan government can facilitate for the fbi, but you know, we saw yesterday the u.s. government drew down their personnel because of concern in the protests today so it may be that they've...
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Sep 14, 2012
09/12
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i have just been over there twice and moved around between tr tripoli and benghazi. you have sheikhs and tribal chiefs and ministries. no one controls everything. we have met very good people there, moved around with them. we had to change our route several times because of the salafis getting worse we were there and they were worried about our movement. we had to change. when our people go in there targeting, who do you hold responsible? how do you find them? you can't pun shallish a popula. it is very difficult to find those that are responsible and take much action. we have to reinforce the consulate and the embassy with marines. we have to have a force off the coast to do emergency evacuation if required. the libyans basically asked us. we are the civilian private organization now. we set up humanitarian assistance pr assistance prospects. they are all wearing american flag pins on their clothes. they didn't want the chinese or other nationalities. they wanted us. we are very slow to get set up there. you are not going to stop some militant groups but you sure ca
i have just been over there twice and moved around between tr tripoli and benghazi. you have sheikhs and tribal chiefs and ministries. no one controls everything. we have met very good people there, moved around with them. we had to change our route several times because of the salafis getting worse we were there and they were worried about our movement. we had to change. when our people go in there targeting, who do you hold responsible? how do you find them? you can't pun shallish a popula....